Method for manufacturing a forged golf iron club head

ABSTRACT

A method for manufacturing a forged golf iron club head has acts of forming a body in an investment casting process, integrally forming a striking face with a hosel in a forging process and combining the striking face with the body to achieve a golf club head with a striking face. Accordingly, the iron club head has an enhanced performance with a larger profile size and more permeate weight design to gain an excellent accuracy and to prolong the distance for golf ball flying. In addition, the versatile shape design for more permeate weight or low and deep center of gravity design can help to gain the larger sweet spot area and gain more forgiveness, and makes the forged iron head to be an “easy hit” iron club iron. And it still keeps the “pure energy transmission” function of the classic forging.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a forged golf iron club head, and more particularly to a method for manufacturing a golf iron club head that has an enhanced performance with a larger head size and a more permeate weight to gain an excellent accuracy and to prolong the distance for golf playing.

2. Description of Related Art

The forged iron clubs have been used for over 100 years, and actually the first iron club head was made by forging. The golf players always like the soft feeling and solid touch of the forged iron club head, especially the good golf players with low handicap. So, that is the reason why there are over 50% of professional golf players who are using the forged iron club heads for playing into the golf tourments.

With reference to FIG. 2, a conventional forged iron club head is forged from a metal billet which is substantially comprises a body (30) with a striking face (34) and a hosel (32). The hosel (32) is integrally formed on the body (30) and is connected to a shaft (not shown). The striking face (34) is attached on one side of the body (30) for striking golf balls. In a conventional method for manufacturing the golf club head, the body (30) and the striking face (34) are respectively formed in a forging process and then are combined together. The all head is forged into one solid piece, no matter the head is designed with back cavity shape or no cavity/muscle back shape. There are some limitations with the conventional forged iron head as follows:

a) Small Head Volume and Small Profile Size.

The metal's density becomes higher after forged process, for example the original density of carbon steel before forging is at 7.80 g/cc, but it becomes 7.95 g/cc after forging process. So, the iron club head has a limitation for designing the proper larger size since the higher metal's density, especially the small head size causes the difficulty for playing the forged long irons.

b) Not Versatile in Design.

For the forged back cavity shape design iron, it is very difficult to design a deep and wide back cavity shape since the metal's flow from forging is not as easy as the investment casting. So, the forged iron head just can be designed with a simple and shallow back cavity shape. But, it is difficult for creating the good weight distribution design to improve to gain more forgiveness.

In addition, the forged iron head cannot design to have complicate shape and construction, just like the thin face wall thickness design or the undercut back cavity design.

To overcome the shortcomings, the present invention tends to provide a method for manufacturing a golf iron club head to mitigate or obviate the aforementioned problems.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The main objective of the invention is to provide a method for manufacturing a forged golf iron club head to enhance the performance and to make the forged iron head to be an “easy hit” iron club head. The method for manufacturing a forged golf club head has acts of forming a body, integrally forming a striking face with a hosel and combining the striking face with the body to achieve a golf club head with a striking face.

Other objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a golf iron club head manufactured by a method in accordance with the present invention; and

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of a forged golf iron club head manufactured by a conventional method in accordance with the prior art.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

With reference to FIG. 1, a method for manufacturing a golf iron club head in accordance with the present invention comprises the acts as follows:

-   -   (a) Forming a body (10) with a sole, a back area and a toe area.         The material for forming a body (10) can be stainless steel,         carbon steel, bronze or titanium alloy. The body (10) can be         formed in an investment casting process.     -   (b) Integrally forming a striking face (12) with a hosel (14).         The material for forming the striking face (12) can be stainless         steel, carbon steel, bronze or titanium alloy. The striking face         (12) with the hosel (14) can be formed in a forging process.     -   (c) Combining the striking face (12) with the body (10) to         achieve a golf club head with a striking face. In practice, the         act of combining the striking face (12) with the body (10) can         be an act of force fitting the striking face (12) into the body         (10) or an act of combining the striking face (12) to the body         (10) in a welding process or a brazing process.

In such a method, the golfer's hitting power is transformed from shaft to the striking face (12) through the hosel (14) because the forged hosel (14) and striking face (12) are formed to one piece. The Forged hosel (14) and the striking face (12) offer the pure energy transmission as the pure forged iron head. In addition, the force applied to the striking face (12) from a golf ball will be directly transmitted to the hosel (14). The striking force provided by the golf club will not influence the combination between the body (10) and the striking face (12). Consequently, the structural strength of the golf club head is enhanced, and the useful life of the golf club head is prolonged.

In addition, because the body (10) is formed in an investment casting process, the shape for the body (10) is easy to be versatile and easy to design with more permeate weight for deep center of gravity or low center of gravity function. In another words, the iron club head made by the method in accordance with the present invention has a larger profile size than a conventional forged iron club head at a same weight. The iron club head has an enhanced performance with a large head size and a permeate weight to gain an excellent accuracy and to prolong the distance for golf ball flying.

Furthermore, with a large volume and profile size, the iron club head can be designed with a deep and wide back cavity shape or a complicate shape and construction, such as a thin face wall thickness design or an undercut back cavity design. Therefore, the iron club head made by the method in accordance with the present invention is versatile in design.

Even though numerous characteristics and advantages of the present invention have been set forth in the foregoing description, together with details of the structure and function of the invention, the disclosure is illustrative only, and changes may be made in detail, especially in matters of shape, size, and arrangement of parts within the principles of the invention to the full extent indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims are expressed. 

1. A method for manufacturing a forged golf iron club head comprising acts as follows: forming a body with a sole, a back area and a toe area in a casting process; integrally forming a striking face with a hosel in a forging process; and combining the striking face with the body to achieve a golf club head with a striking face.
 2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the body is formed in an investment casting process.
 3. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the act of combining the striking face with the body is an act of interference fitting the striking face onto the body.
 4. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the act of combining the striking face with the body is in a welding process.
 5. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the act of combining the striking face with the body is in a brazing process. 